Tim Ryan tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
Shawano city officials approved the 2016 budget Wednesday after a public hearing.
The Shawano Common Council made a few adjustments to the budget before voting on it, adding $25,000 to the contingency fund for wages.
The budget calls for a 1-percent, across-the-board increase in wages. However, negotiations are still going on with the police union.
The new figures give the city a tax levy for 2016 of $4.44 million, down from from $4.64 million. The city’s tax rate, however, will still go up, largely due to anemic growth in property values.
The rate will rise from about $9.06 per $1,000 of assessed value to $9.26 per $1,000. That means the owner of a $100,000 home would pay $926 for the city’s portion of the tax bill.
The total bill also includes Shawano County, the Shawano School District, state of Wisconsin and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College taxes.
The tax levy for the Shawano School District will drop to about $4.87 million from $5.2 million last year.
The levy for Shawano County will increase from $2.4 million to about $2.5 million.
The levy for Northeast Wisconsin Technical College will be $366,988, down from $393,770, while the state’s share of the levy will increase slightly to $85,359 from $85,118.
All the taxing entities together would add up to a bill of about $24 per $1,000 of assessed value, increasing from $23.70 in 2015.
The bulk of the city’s tax increase, roughly $42,000, would go to covering the city’s increase in debt service.
The city, which borrows for capital improvement projects two years at a time, took on about $3.1 million in debt this year: $1.5 million for its 2015 projects and $1.6 million for projects planned in 2016.
The largest share of that will go to street projects.
Major street reconstruction projects for 2016 include Stevens Avenue, from Evergreen to Park Street; Evergreen Street, from Richmond Street to Lieg Avenue; and Eagle Street, starting West of Weed Street to Lafayette Street.
Major remilling and overlay projects include Cleveland Street, from Elizabeth to Stevens Avenue; Stevens Avenue, from Lutz to Lincoln Street; and the entire length of Kleeman Court.
One of the largest capital equipment purchases is a new fire truck, at a cost of $445,000. The city’s share is $220,000, with the rest picked up by surrounding townships that are part of the Shawano Area Fire Department.
Major park projects on tap include addressing the degrading boat landing at Huckleberry Harbor. The city hopes to get a DNR grant to cover half of the anticipated $100,000 cost of that project.
Ball diamond rehabilitation and $50,000 to jump start development of Smalley Park are also proposed.
The city is also not giving up on plans for a future dog park, despite the controversy this year over a proposed location for the park that was ultimately rejected. The proposed budget includes $50,000 for a dog park.
The city’s general fund will increase from $6.7 million to $6.73 million, an increase of 0.4 percent.